I have liked Omron 7300w. When I brought it to my Doc's for calibration, it was extremely close to the nurses reading (been a while so I forget how close, but definitely within clinical significance.) Doc said Omron makes the best home BP devices.

To preface, in my first career (from 1980-early 2000's), I was in software, working on everything-microcomputer, from higher level user interface software and networking APIs, and other communications projects, to assembly language code. I have a low tolerance for things that don't do what they're supposed to do. This is why I like Cool Tools, for find the...well, the cool tools.

Now I am a Registered Nurse in acute care, and although I do not use this unit at work, I was impressed enough with the reviews on Amazon.com that I bought this one for home to have a quick, simple way to take blood pressures on various family members. I have a good Welch-Allen manual sphygmomanometer (more commonly and easily referred to as a blood pressure thingy), but it's a pain to have to use the necessary stethoscope. Having said that, I do recommend that if you really need accuracy, to have it as a backup, particularly if you get a scary reading, whether your concern is high blood pressure, or low.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I bought this Panasonic Blood Pressure Monitor about a year ago, and we love it. The thing that always amazes me is that it starts out with a very quiet hum--hardly noticable-- as it starts to pump up, but even that sound stops within a few seconds, and you continue to feel the cuff pump up. I imagine that it pumps up an internal air tank, and lets it out slowly, as needed.

A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.